Cadbury's options on energy

Global brands like Cadbury lead the way in environmental action in the food and beverage industry. With a commitment to halve its CO2 levels by 2020, Cadbury was delighted when Brammer delivered significant carbon emission reductions and a £16,000 energy cost saving at its factory in Sheffield. 

Paul Blake of Brammer was called in by Cadbury's to assess the manufacturing process at its factory in Sheffield. After a thorough evaluation by Brammer's technical specialists, several areas were identified where the specification of more energy efficient components would significantly reduce carbon emissions and deliver reduced energy consumption and tangible cost savings.

A revised, more energy efficient, specification was developed consisting of an EFF1 motor, linked to a variable speed drive and the standard V-belts were replaced with Gates Polychain synchronous drive belts. Whilst the new EFF1 motor is much more energy efficient the installation of a variable speed drive has increased process speed control and improved the effectiveness of the production process. By replacing standard V-belts with Gates Polychain belts, Brammer was able to achieve an energy saving of between 5% and 6% on the drive. This instant payback, combined with the improved results from the variable speed drive and EFF1 motor gave Cadbury immediate, quantifiable energy savings.

Tim Jefferies, chief engineer at the Sheffield factory is delighted with the results: "The new motor and drive belt specification is much more efficient than our previous set up and we're really starting to see a healthy reduction in our energy consumption. Monitoring our energy consumption, we have discovered that the motor and Polychain belts are set to deliver a saving of 185,000kWh or 79 tonnes of CO2 each year. That translates into a £16,000 cost saving as well as being great for the environment."

Cadbury made a commitment to cut its absolute global carbon emissions when it launched the "Purple Goes Green" initiative in 2007. This outlined plans to reduce CO2 emissions by 50% by 2020 and encouraged all employees to take action.